一線牽 A Line of Connection
Skills/Software: Adobe InDesign, Book Making, Embroidery, Hand-sewing
一線牽 A Line of Connection invites readers into the tactile experience of the intersection between fashion, bookbinding, and human relationships. This two-edition book showcases a series of seam samples and deconstructed fashion garments hand-produced with unbleached cotton muslin and red thread — a symbol of the ties between soulmates in Chinese mythology. The book encourages reflection on the relationships we form and the threads that unite us beyond the social constructs of class, race, and politics.
Drawing from the Chinese mythology of how a red thread connects soulmates at the ankles, this book is a metaphor for the ties people form in real life. Similar to how garment elements fit together to form a whole garment, humans form connections to build their own community. However, no relationship is permanent, so aside from the knots used to bind the book, I intentionally chose not to permanently knot anything. Since muslin is the fabric used to prototype garments, by keeping the material simple, I felt that more attention would be placed on the stitching and construction of both the deconstructed garment and the binding, hence the red-colored thread to contrast with the rest of the book. Furthermore, I wanted the reader to question whether the garment elements in the pages of the book form an actual garment. I did not want to give a definite yes or no answer, and instead leave the answer up for interpretation. Lastly, I wanted to invite readers to experience fashion and book binding by interacting with the pages in the book, to consider the relationships they form with each other, and to reflect on a world without the social constructs of class, race, and politics.
Process:
The inspiration for this book came from my background in fashion design. Throughout history, garments have been used to denote a person’s socioeconomic class through materials, colors, or trendy fashion items. However, the construction of these garments always start from the same place, paper patterns and prototypes constructed from muslin, which led to the idea of seeing the heart of people and forming valuable connections with each other.
Prototypes